HTC not bundling Beats heaphones anymore

In a move that shouldn't surprise anyone, HTC won't be bundling Beats headphones with it's devices anymore. Ever since HTC announced their partnership with Beats they've been talking up the benefits, namely better sound quality from your handset. Regardless of whether or not you agree that the sound quality was actually better, the fact that you got some pretty decent earbuds with your phone was a major plus. Everything you needed to have great sound was included in the box. Apparently HTC realized that people don't buy phones based on what buds are included in the box.

Now that won't be the case, and it probably has more to do with Beats than with HTC. It may or may not be common knowledge, but Monster was the manufacturer of Beats headphones. We say was because the partnership has ended, which leaves Beats without a manufacturer. So even if HTC wants to continue to include the buds, they can't, because Beats can't supply them anymore.

I once owned 3 Rezounds, all 3 of them had a nasty ground loop problem with their headphone jacks that introduced a terrible buzzing / beeping noise when listening to anything. Oh and the beats headphones haha.. sure they may be better than most cheap 20 dollar headphones, but they aren't worth the money that they are selling for. I personally use Etymotic HF3... you want good sound from a hands free headset there isn't anything better.

Really, all android and or HTC needs to do, is buy the rights or find a way to integrate the cyanogen dsp and voodoo into their code. Maybe not an exact clone but the sound quality increase is the only thing keeping me from going back to stock. It's too good really.(it can make a pair of 17$ headphones sound better than 80$ headphones.) The EQ apps on the market don't do it for me at all. It's a software problem not a "Materials" problem.

I guess since I did buy a Rezound (w/ iBeats earbuds) I should be considered lucky. Personally I can live with our without it. Beats may be a 'cheap equalizer gimmick' & not 'for a serious audiophile' to be sure, but what exactly does satisfy those people? You ever have a conversation with an audio tech or classical conductor? They are never satisfied with the end result. Their pursuit of perfection drives them to keep working at it.

Some of the same peeps posting above have made plenty of hay of this phone's benchmark scores or that screen technology. If you don't like it don't buy it. Choice is never a bad thing. You have yours & others have theirs. Are you harmed in some irresponsible way because a consumer is swayed by marketing gimmicks? Hello Apple.

Personally I am quite happy with the iBeats earbuds that came with my Rezound. Are they the best I've used? Nope not by a long shot. But they along with the Rezound & a 32 GB sd card made it possible for me to finally ditch the iPod Nano 4th Gen I had used for users. No more iTunes for me at last so that's what counted in my book. All of my music is stored in the cloud with Amazon & Google now. I can download it to my sd card & listen thru the native audio app w/ Beats enabled & foolishly like the 'muddy or distorted & ugly' sound & be blissfully happy.

regarding the first part of your comment,
that's how the original Beats by Dre came out to life, Dr. Dre said that he was never satisfied with the end results & how the music comes out through the Headphones, so he started to work on a better things & bam years later Beats were born

Even without the earphones, the One X is still much more expensive than past flagship devices e.g. Sensation XE. Apparently there isn't a price drop due to the exclusion of Beats earphones.
Speaking of the XE, I've heard that people buy the phone and sell it again without the earphones - the money they lose is still less than the cost of a pair of those earphones. Smart, really, and would that be related to the exclusion of the earphones now?

Maybe if HTC didn't ask an arm & a leg for them, they would've actually sold some of them
With what HTC is asking for a Sensation XL, I can buy a RAZR & a Beats Studio ! & lets face it the Sensation XL cant NOT come close to the RAZR

I would like to point out something : as someone who played with Beats headphones
The iBeats is crap & waaay over priced ! My Headphones that came with the Atrix is Allot better
The SOLOs are okay, but again Over Priced
The Studio is actually really good, but with the price they are asking , you can buy BOSE & have money left

The orginal Beats by Dre was outstanding

_____________
I used a RAZR as example & I dont hate HTC
& I love Dr. Dre's music & I appreciate his efforts to make something orginal (not just anthor Clothing line) & the Hardwork he put into making the Original Beats by Dre

I'd rather they put the $$ into the phone, the only time I use headphones is when I'm working out and I have bluetooth headphones for that, beats audio is just a name and a crappy one trick equalizer, I'm even more convinced now that the buds where nothing special since monster made them, I've been using $4 hdmi cables from ebay for years over ripoff monster cables for years. Monster and Beats Audio are just names to fool an unsuspecting public. If you want higher quality buds I'm sure their are much better ones around, just do your research.

I was thinking about jumping on the deal on the Rezound for $50. I think the sale ends today and I have a $30 credit for renewing my contract that I could use making the phone $20. Should I pick up the Rezound or wait a little longer for something new?

Beats headphones are a perfect example of the placebo effect people have with them. "All my bros have them, so they must be good. If they were bad, why would so many people buy them?" Once they actually try them, of course they will try to justify spending $300+ on a pair of shitty headphones - "yes, yes, they sound amazing! These are the best headphones ever!" Meanwhile, the only other headphones they tried were some Skull Candy's, white iPhone/iPod buds, and/or some other cheap-ass headphones that actually do sound worse than Beats. Spending $300+ on something doesn't automatically make it the best, it just means that you're a dumbass who spend a few hundred dollars "because everybody else has them." Don't fall into marketing, instead, listen to audiophiles who actually review headphones and know what they're talking about. I just bought a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50's because I did a little research and read and watched lots of reviews and comparisons instead of going by "all my bros has dem, so dey good!"

And that Beats software is just a bloated equalizer, Engadget already did a post on that.

I'm torn on that decission but honestly pimping beats audio as a feature with the phone and giving anything but those buds in the phone doesn't make much sense to me. Maybe I would have bought a regular set if I liked the buds(style I don't like) and the sound it produced. We'll never know now. Like I said torn really. Main focus...new evo>cm9=happy dubdrop

Not really an issue. They are not really high quality earbuds, just a name. As for the phone being any cheaper because of it? No. Phone prices are set by the market, and people are buying $299 phones with or without earphones. Unless you need the latest and greatest new thing, wait till the phone you want has been out for 3-4 months, then buy it on a weekend sale. No point in letting the carrier pocket more of you money. Rezound for $50 is so much better than paying $299 two months ago when I was eligible to upgrade.

Ah, sorry, but Nothing Approximating a "market" is operating in the smartphone world.

The closest approximation you can achieve is buying an unlocked international version of a GSM phone that happens to have the bands your carrier uses. Even there, with different specs, and single manufacturer for each model, there is no such thing as a market price. By the time you add in carrier subsidies, carrier locks, different frequencies, different radio protocols, the concept of a market is meaningless.

Agreed, im fine with this, but as a form of customer appreciation they should include like a redeem code or coupon for like some % off select beats headphones for the people that actually do want them.

I think that is fair. I mean if the One X came to VZW i would jump all over it as im sure most would, but if they along with the carrier said oh hey its gots beats audio, no one thinks about beats without thinking about their stellar headphones. it just hasnt been marketed as a sound quality improvement to the phone. People like me and most of you realize it as what it is, but the general smartphone community thinks head phones.

So dont include them, but offer a nice discount of select models for purchase online/best buy/ or though provider.

There are so any things wrong with this statement. I agree that the headphones aren't the best... but comparing an analog audio cable to a digital video cable?????? You DO realize analog audio does improve with better cable materials such as gold right?? This is nothing like an HDMI cable that carries a digital signal!

you mean the type of person who realizes that monster uses higher quality cabling materials for analog cables such as headphones so you get better quality sound???? Those people???

My point was el jefe was wrong to compare them....because someone who sees monster on the package would think they are great because they put better quality into their products. that being said....yes, these particular headphones suck. But the comment above is wrong to compare the two.

The reality is that headphone cables are what 4 feet? Also, the amount of wattage transmitted through them is what 1W max? At that level and length, you could use any wire and the sound would be just fine.

Analog signal attenuation is dependent on the gauge of the cable, the amount of wattage running through the cable, the length of the cable, and any corrosion of the cable over time. With headphones, the first three effects are negligible leaving corrosion as the only factor to be concerned with. As long as the cable has a decent cladding, there won't be enough corrosion to make a difference.

By the way, it's been proven in blind tests that listening to speakers with simple 16 gauge ultra-cheap lamp cord is indistinguishable from the same setup with 16 gauge high-end Monster cable. Monster is a marketing company whose sole purpose is to wring money out of gullible people.

you clearly lack the ability to grasp El Jefe's comment... he made a comment about the people who buy the beats headphones thinking they are synonymous with quality are the same people who buy high quality hdmi cables from monster thinking they some how magically transfer a digital signal better... never once mentioning monster's analog cable line.. he even went as far as saying HDMI...

I am not comparing analog cables to digital cables. Only that there are people who buy into the marketing that brands like Monster (who produce Beats headphones, by the way) are better than competitors who use the exact same materials. I can get 3-5 pairs of in ear headphones that sound just as good as 1 pair of Beats Audio headphones for the same price.

I used the HDMI example because it shows this gimmick most clearly. I always silently laugh when I overhear a salesperson at an electronics store trying to sell the overpriced HDMI as "better" & usually try to catch them before checking out to tell them that there is no difference in the digital signal from a $99 cable or a $.99 cable that they can buy online.